South Asian Network

The Leadership Conference for Civil & Human Rights

As organizations committed to the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States, we share these principles to help guide the ongoing development and distribution of a vaccine and therapeutics for COVID-19. The impact of vaccine development and distribution on equity, economic security, health outcomes, and civil rights are critical issues facing the communities we represent. We put forward these principles to provide a framework and recommendations for civil rights and COVID-19 vaccines.

Equity must be paramount in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. As companies and health care entities widely distribute COVID-19 vaccines, the health and well-being of frontline and essential workers, Black, Latino, Native American, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities, older adults, immigrants, people with limited English proficiency, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ individuals – the communities most affected by the virus – must be prioritized. The vaccine must be provided to individuals living and working in all types of institutional and congregate settings, including jails and prisons, immigration detention facilities, nursing homes, intermediate care facilities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, psychiatric hospitals, assisted living facilities, board and care homes, and homeless and domestic violence shelters. Individuals who receive home and community based services (HCBS) and individuals providing those services should also be prioritized in vaccine allocation when they are unable to effectively mitigate transmission risks.

COVID-19 vaccines must be made available to all persons, regardless of their immigration status. Information about the vaccine must also be produced and provided in the maximum possible languages and formats, including plain language and screen reader accessible formats and other alternative formats needed by people with disabilities, to ensure that as many people as possible are able to receive the information and counseling needed on how to access the vaccine. This includes ensuring that materials are developed at low literacy levels, translating documents (especially those related to costs and consent for vaccination), ensuring the availability of oral interpretation services for LEP individuals, and providing communication assistance for people with disabilities at the point of vaccination.
It will also be essential that all communities have access to the resources needed to store, handle, and administer COVID-19 vaccines. This is especially critical for rural and Native American communities which often experience critical gaps in access to health care services. The ability to access the tools needed to distribute COVID-19 vaccines must not serve as a barrier to access for vulnerable communities.

As we continue to battle the COVID-19 crisis as a nation, we must provide robust funding to support all efforts around delivering COVID-19 vaccines to communities. Investments are needed to modernize and strengthen state and local immunization infrastructure, expand the public health workforce, including hiring and training staff to distribute the vaccine, ensure rural and underserved communities have access to all the required protective equipment necessary to give the vaccine, stand up additional vaccination sites, ensure the accessibility of vaccination sites for people with disabilities and older adults, modernize immunization information systems, and support outreach and campaigns to target hard to reach populations. Cost and access to personal protective equipment (PPE) should not be a barrier to vaccine distribution.

The process of developing, testing, and approving COVID-19 vaccines must be transparent. As fears of politicization of the vaccine development process persist, it is more important than ever that all processes surrounding the development of the vaccine be transparent. The FDA must be allowed to operate independently and in the interest of people in our nation; the agency must take steps to avoid politicization and maintain the long-standing scientific integrity of its work. Additionally, there must be transparency on the part of pharmaceutical companies and government entities throughout the vaccine development process. This means providing the public with a clear and accessible understanding of what happens at every step of the process. Both efforts funded by Operation Warp Speed and those that are not, rely on underlying research paid for by taxpayers, and we deserve transparency. With the health and well-being of so many people in America at stake, we must not only get the vaccine right, but we must do so in a way that fosters trust in both the process and the outcomes. Transparency also increases trust in the vaccine development process, and will be critical in ensuring that people in America are willing to take COVID-19 vaccines. Transparency holds the government and companies accountable for fair and equitable processes. This includes making detailed demographic information including, at a minimum, race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, primary language, and age, available for people enrolled COVID-19 vaccine trials. This also includes ensuring transparency in state plans for distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

Clinical trials must include representation from diverse communities in order to ensure vaccine efficacy and trust in the process. It is crucial that data about the vaccine reflect the effectiveness and potential side effects for people in all racial and ethnic groups. However, people of color and members of certain ethnic groups are consistently and significantly underrepresented in certain phases of clinical research and overrepresented in others. Despite national efforts to address the longstanding lack of representation in clinical trials, challenges persist. With limited guidance around the levels of diversity in clinical trials, it is difficult to know whether current and forthcoming COVID-19 vaccines will be equally safe and effective for all communities. As efforts continue to develop COVID-19 vaccines, it is critical that diverse populations be included in representative numbers in every stage of clinical trials and as part of future vaccine safety and monitoring efforts. In addition to the benefits around understanding efficacy, diversity in clinical trials also inspires more trust in a vaccine.
Communities must be engaged in COVID-19 vaccine distribution processes to provide education and address vaccine hesitancy in communities of color. As discussed, long-standing challenges related to historical and continued discrimination, lack of consent, and medical racism have left many communities of color distrustful of vaccines and of the health care system. Addressing vaccine hesitancy is critical to ensuring that communities of color, who have been hit hardest by the virus, are prioritized for preventive treatment. While the Tuskegee syphilis study is one of the more notorious incidents of medical abuse that cultivated mistrust of medical institutions specifically for African American communities, the history of medical and research abuse of communities of color goes far beyond that incident. The lack of trust and hesitancy that communities of color, specifically Black, Latino, Native American, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities, and the disability community, experience around vaccinations is reinforced by systemic racism in our health care system and discriminatory events that continue to this day. Immigrants may also have deep distrust in government institutions due to both their own history and fear of enforcement in the United States. Given the potential for hesitancy to rapidly undermine vaccination coverage in certain communities, it is important that entities responsible for the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines immediately take steps to understand and address the extent and nature of hesitancy at a local level, on a continuing basis.

As we grapple with the realities of COVID-19 vaccine distribution, it is imperative that private and public agencies develop culturally and linguistically competent strategies to build trust and increase acceptance and demand for vaccinations, including but not limited to, targeting investments in community-based organizations, not only as partners in public education but also to ensure regular, transparent responses to concerns around the distribution and safety of the vaccine. Communication and education are key to combating hesitancy and this must include collaboration with and leadership by community partners and trusted health care providers.

Robust data collection around vaccine development and distribution must be an instrumental part of our nation’s COVID-19 response. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, data has been key in helping us understand how communities have been impacted by the virus and, subsequently, which communities we will need to prioritize in our response to the virus. Throughout the clinical trial phases of vaccine development, we have seen how data helps us understand which communities have been involved in clinical trials and the vetting of the vaccine, and which communities have been underrepresented during development. Now, as we enter the vaccination stage of the pandemic, data can be used to help track progress in the fight against COVID-19. As populations begin to be vaccinated, data on vaccinations should be analyzed to help us identify gaps and understand how to rectify them.

Additionally, we must ensure that data collected around COVID-19 is maintained safely and securely by the appropriate entities. No data should be collected beyond what is necessary for demographic reporting and for follow-up on additional doses, if needed. Strict standards must be developed to ensure no data collection can be used for immigration enforcement or other negative actions impacting vaccine recipients. These standards must be clear and communicated to vaccine recipients to combat vaccine hesitancy that could result from data collection. In addition, actions must be taken to restore trust in the federal government, such as repealing the public charge rules.

Once COVID-19 vaccines have been authorized or approved by the FDA, they must be free and accessible for all people. Cost or access to health care or insurance should not be a barrier to anyone seeking to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The virus has disproportionately impacted low-income individuals, including many essential workers who are more likely to be Black, Latino, Indigenous, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander. There are also already significant barriers to accessing health care for many depending on their proximity to health care services, previous experiences with health care (including discrimination, income, and insurance status), and immigration status. If people cannot afford the vaccine, highly impacted communities are less likely to achieve community immunity and face the potential of prolonged high COVID-19 infection rates. The cost of the vaccine and its administration should not be an added deterrence to inoculation, especially for communities most highly impacted by the virus. At the same time, we must ensure adequate reimbursement is available to providers for both vaccine administration and educational counseling. This reimbursement process must be equitable and available to providers treating all patients, including undocumented immigrants.

Strenuous efforts must be employed before any discussion of a vaccine mandate. Strategies to ensure widespread vaccination uptake must be rooted in the principles above. Given the distrust and vaccine hesitancy that exist, every effort must be made to ensure education with trusted messengers to promote voluntary vaccination. We should work to prevent situations where an individual may be coerced into taking the vaccine as a condition of employment. This is especially important given the lack of diversity in clinical trials and subsequent concern about how a vaccine might affect certain communities. Hinging employment and economic security on whether a person has been vaccinated may exacerbate existing economic and health disparities and every effort should be taken to avoid or to mitigate any negative, unintended consequences of a vaccine mandate.

Preparing for the future. For years, public health infrastructure in America has been underfunded and has failed to serve the most vulnerable people in our nation. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed critical, long-standing deficiencies in our nation’s health care system. In order to meet the needs around COVID-19 vaccine development and distribution, we must ensure that our health care system is adequately financed to last for future generations. This planning goes beyond immediate funding needs, and should be forward-looking to include dedicated funding for community-based organizations, researchers, federal agencies, and state and local governments. Preparing for the future also means making changes now that help to improve health outcomes for all. This includes the need to address diversity in clinical trials in the long term to ensure that vulnerable communities are represented in every stage of the process.

This pandemic has laid bare some of the most jarring inequities in this nation. As we work to reign in the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, we must aspire toward outcomes that protect the health, well-being, and livelihood of all people in America. Every step of this effort is an opportunity to dismantle historic disparities that exist for marginalized communities within our health care system. It is critical that we seize this opportunity and work to build a health care system that works for the most vulnerable in our nation.

Signatories (as of 2/26/21):

• The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
• ACCESS
• African American Ministers In Action
• AIDS Action Baltimore
• AIDS Alabama
• AIDS Foundation Chicago
• AIDS United
• Alianza Nacional de Campesinas
• American Association of People with Disabilities
• American Atheists
• American Federation of Teachers
• American Humanist Association
• American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
• Americans for Democratic Action (ADA)
• Amnesty International USA
• Andrew Goodman Foundation
• Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese
• Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum
• Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)
• Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC
• Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO
• Asian Pacific Islander Initiative San Diego
• Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment, Advocacy and Leadership (APPEAL)
• Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO)
• Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD)
• Autistic Self Advocacy Network
• AVAC
• Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
• Black Alliance for Just Immigration
• Black Women’s Health Imperative
• BOLD ReThink
• Center for Disability Rights
• Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
• Center for Public Representation
• Center for Responsible Lending
• Church of the Brethren, Office of Peacebuilding and Policy
• Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues
• Community Change Action and Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM)
• Crescent City Media Group/Center for Civic Action
• DAP Health
• Disability Rights Advocates
• Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF)
• Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC)
• End Citizens United / Let America Vote Action Fund
• Equal Rights Advocates
• Equality California
• Fair Count
• Fair Count Inc
• Faith in Action
• Faith in Public Life
• Farmworker Justice
• Feminist Majority Foundation
• Fenway Health
• Futures Without Violence
• Government Information Watch
• Hindu American Foundation
• Hindu American Foundation
• Hindu American Foundation
• Hispanic Federation
• Housing Choice Partners
• Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative
• Human Rights Campaign
• Human Rights Campaign
• Immigrant Legal Resource Center
• Impact Fund
• Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice
• Japanese American Citizens League
• Justice for Migrant Women
• Justice for Migrant Women
• Justice in Aging
• Justice Resource Institute
• JustUs Health
• Ka ʻAha Lāhui O ʻOlekona Hawaiian Civic Club of Oregon and SW Washington
• Labor Council for Latin American Advancement
• Lambda Legal
• Lana’i Community Health Center
• LatinoJustice PRLDEF
• Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG)
• Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
• League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
• League of Women Voters of the United States
• Matthew Shepard Foundation
• Matthew Shepard Foundation
• Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)
• NAACP
• NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF)
• NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF)
• NAPAFASA
• National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities
• National Association of Human Rights Workers
• National Black Justice Coalition
• National CAPACD
• National Center for Parent Leadership, Advocacy, and Community Empowerment (National PLACE)
• National Center for Transgender Equality
• National Coalition for LGBT Health
• National Coalition for the Homeless
• National Council of Asian Pacific Americans
• National Council of Churches
• National Council of Jewish Women
• National Council on Independent Living
• National Disability Rights Network (NDRN)
• National Down Syndrome Congress
• National Education Association
• National Employment Law Project
• National Employment Lawyers Association
• National Equality Action Team (NEAT)
• National Health Law Program
• National Hispanic Media Coalition
• National Immigration Law Center
• National Network for Arab American Communities
• National Organization for Women
• National Urban League
• National Women’s Law Center
• National Working Positive Coalition
• Nebraska Appleseed
• New York Immigration Coalition
• North Carolina AIDS Action Network
• Oxfam America
• Pacific Islander Community Association of WA
• Pacific Islands Primary Care Association
• People For the American Way
• People’s Action
• Physicians for Human Rights
• Planned Parenthood Federation of America
• Poverty & Race Research Action Council
• Prism Health North Texas
• Prison Policy Initiative
• Public Advocacy for Kids (PAK)
• Public Citizen
• Public Justice
• San Francisco AIDS Foundation
• Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
• Silver State Equality-Nevada
• South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT)
• South Asian Network
• South Asian Public Health Association (SAPHA)
• Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)
• Southern Echo Inc.
• SPLC Action Fund
• State Voices
• Texas Progressive Action Network
• The Arc of the United States
• The United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society
• The Workers Circle
• Treatment Action Group
• UFCW
• Union for Reform Judaism
• UNITED SIKHS
• UTOPIA PDX – United Territories of Pacific Islanders Alliance Portland
• Virginia Civic Engagement Table
• Welcoming America
• Whitman-Walker Institute
• Workplace Fairness

South Asian Network (SAN)

Dear Friend,

On November 8th, 2016 we watched with the rest of America as Donald J. Trump was elected President of the United States – and almost immediately, the South Asian community whom we serve at SAN was under attack, with threats to their access to healthcare, ability to apply for public benefits, and stay in the country.  So many in our community felt unsafe with the rise of hate crimes against South Asian Americans and the white supremacists who were emboldened by the rhetoric from the White House. 

Fast forward four years and Kamala Harris, a woman of South Asian origin has been elected Vice President of the United States.  A glorious affirmation that we do belong.  This is our country and this is our democracy. Both she and President Elect Biden used the word “possibilities” to describe America. And, it’s true – there are very few places in this world where the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants could rise up the ranks on her own merit and be elected to the second most powerful seat in our government.  Possibilities. 

And, as proof that our democracy is still kicking, a record number of voters participated in this year’s election. And, while we don’t have the tally yet on South Asian participation, we know from the many conversations we had that so many of you were actively involved in getting out the vote. Because you believed that your vote and your voice matter. Possibilities. 

We congratulate President Elect Joseph Biden and Vice President Elect Kamala Harris on their victory, and all of our newly elected and re-elected state and local leaders.  We look forward to working with them as we rebuild a more just, inclusive, and diverse America. We will continue to hold our elected officials on both sides of the aisle accountable and speak up on issues that impact our community. 

Civic engagement is not only about voting. In order to continue to amplify the needs of our community, we will need more South Asian Americans fully engaged and knowledgeable about their rights, policies and laws that impact them, and how to speak up and be heard.  

The South Asian Network continues to be the only South Asian organization in the greater Los Angeles area with a dedicated civic engagement program. We help our community members apply for U.S. Citizenship, register to vote, provide in-language information on how and where to vote, advocate for language access, and ensure that they understand the importance of voting and cast their ballots via mail or in-person. In 2017, following President Trump’s inauguration, we hosted a community town hall to address questions and fears South Asians had about the many new policies and executive orders that were being passed.  Over the last four years, we hosted discussions on immigrant rights, hate crimes, and South Asian civic engagement.  And, this past year, we spearheaded Census 2020 outreach for the South Asian community in Southern California. 

We do this with very little funding, but know how vital it is for our community. You can help support and strengthen this important work with a recurring donation of $15/month. 

Thank you to the South Asian Bar Association’s Public Interest Foundation (SABA-PIF) and the Orange County Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (OCAPICA) for their generous support of our Desi Vote 2020 campaign. 

Get some rest, America! 

Shikha Bhatnagar
Executive Director

Nepal24Hrs.com

“This research, a tool for ongoing support, outreach and intervention strategies, is so vital and couldn’t come at a more important time,” commented Shikha Bhatnagar, South Asian Network executive director. “COVID is stressing relationships.”

Domestic violence in the United States is pervasive but little understood, particularly in non-English speaking communities. In a groundbreaking new report, the Asian Pacific Policy & Planning Council (A3PCON) studied domestic violence within five Los Angeles Asian immigrant communities, in five languages.

Local residents of Chinese, Korean, North Indian Hindu, Cambodian and Pakistani Muslim descent met in 23 focus groups including more than 150 people to discuss their circumstances and family norms in Mandarin, Hindi, Khmer, Korean, Urdu and English.

“Domestic violence is a complex issue,” A3PCON President Rachelle Arizmendi said at the late-October press conference introducing the report (https://tinyurl.com/A3PCONreport). “What’s important is that we see each intersection of domestic violence with cultural issues.”

Problems of domestic violence can emanate from causes every bit as diverse as the immigrant family members studied. Some possible roots of domestic violence explored in A3PCON’s report include evolving gender roles, changing perspectives on obligations to family members and the community, conflicting religious doctrines, different cultural standards and community norms and expectations between participants’ countries of origin and the U.S.

All of those things can become still more complicated when multiple generations are living together, but vary from one community to another and even within those communities themselves.

And in 2020, presenters made clear, the COVID-19 pandemic has only worsened the difficulties that can erupt into domestic violence.

“We are seeing the exacerbation of domestic violence in response to the COVID crisis,” Arizmendi said.

“This research, a tool for ongoing support, outreach and intervention strategies, is so vital and couldn’t come at a more important time,” commented Shikha Bhatnagar, South Asian Network executive director. “COVID is stressing relationships.”

Brian Hui, of Special Service for Groups’ Research & Evaluation, another of the eight organizations collaborating in producing the report, noted how closed schools and shuttered workplaces have pushed people together, allowing tensions to build up with fewer opportunities for relief. Conversely, he said, many members of the surveyed communities work in fields deemed “essential” and thus have had the burdens of staying safe amid a pandemic that as of late October killed nearly a quarter-million people nationwide.

“One of the big findings of the study was a lack of awareness of what domestic violence looks like,” Hui said. Cultural distinctions play a role in how all of these communities understand and deal with it.

There’s little agreement on “what is considered appropriate conduct,” Mariku Khan, of Pacific Asian Counseling Services, said.

But common to all the cultures studied were issues of male dominance and stresses from changing gender roles, such as women increasingly adding income-earning to their list of responsibilities, without men typically taking on increased domestic ones.

“A common thread is power and control,” said Debra Suh, executive director of the Center for the Pacific Asian Family (CPAF). “It doesn’t happen all of a sudden. It becomes worse over time.”

Common factors were religious and other cultural standards that value “saving face,” “having to bear a cross” or suffering in silence can allow domestic violence to persist. And there are different opinions on corporal punishment, too.

Nor are intervention strategies clear.

“Going to police is not something you would do,” Khan said.

She recommended author Rachel Louise Snyder’s “No Visible Bruises” that “delineates how law enforcement and society work together to make it difficult for women victims to report domestic violence.” And Khan agreed with Hui’s assessment that immigrant families’ experiences with authorities in their home countries — “not necessarily a positive, public safety-oriented one” — will color their willingness to seek help.

Researchers were challenged to ensure participants’ safety in discussing an often-taboo topic and noted that the intermingling of cultures and generations is complicated enough to preclude discussing issues of gender identity or homosexuality.

In hopes of better times ahead, the report attempted to identify helpful strategies for addressing domestic violence. Despite the diversity of the communities in the study, researchers concluded that there are some strategies that are applicable to all, centered around changing norms within each. Among them: promoting more open discussion, implementing trainings and social groups to understand better parenting styles and working with community leaders to affirm new social and cultural norms.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness month, 3PCON Executive Director Manju Kulkarni noted, but, “Domestic violence is something that happens every day, every month, throughout the year.”

Although to some extent the report “confirmed what some of us already know,” Bhathagar said, the findings of community norms shifting toward more gender equity provides hope.

“We all know that marriage is not easy and when you add immigration, it becomes even more stressful,” Sheila Wu, of Asian Pacific Counseling and Treatment Centers, said. “We hope we can be here for you.”

The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights

For More Information Contact:
 For The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Contact: Charmaine Riley, riley@civilrights.org, 202.548.7166

For the Census Project
Mary Jo Hoeksema: (703) 298-6818, maryjo@popassoc.org
Howard Fienberg: (202) 570-7312, howard.fienberg@insightsassociation.org

Washington, D.C. – Underscoring the importance and urgency of extending statutory reporting deadlines for apportionment and redistricting data, a diverse and consequential array of local, state, and national organizations urged U.S Senators today to “to give the U.S. Census Bureau sufficient time to thoroughly implement complex data processing activities and complete the most accurate 2020 Census possible.”

Specifically, they urged senators to cosponsor or support the bipartisan 2020 Census Deadline Extensions Act (S. 4571), which would extend the statutory deadlines for delivering apportionment and redistricting data to April and July 2021, respectively, as the administration requested in April 2020.

“Failure to push back the statutory reporting deadlines is forcing the Census Bureau to cut short critical 2020 Census data processing and quality check operations from the usual five months down to only two and a half months,” the groups stated, stressing the incredibly compressed time frame simply to meet pre-Covid-19 statutory deadlines.

“The Census Bureau’s count of the nation was incomplete, their work is not done, and the 2020 Census is not over,” said Beth Lynk, director of the Census Counts Campaign. “Perhaps the most critical phase to get a quality count is now underway, but it’s been dramatically cut short as a consequence of counting delays due to Covid-19 disruptions.”

Mary Jo Hoeksema of the Census Project stated that, “Data processing activities designed to take 153 days before the pandemic derailed the original plan, now have to be done in 92 days under the accelerated plan. The President asked for an extension in April, and Congress should give the nation the time needed to get the count right.”

The appeal to senators from a broad and diverse collection of stakeholders is rooted in the 10-year consequences for states, localities and even neighborhoods of getting the 2020 count wrong.  The letter emphasized that, “…[a] rushed census during a pandemic inevitably will lead to misallocation of political representation, government funding, and private sector investment in every state and community. If data processing operations are not thorough, communities most in need of resources to improve quality of life and standards of living will not receive their fair share for the next decade. Accurate data from the 2020 Census are critical to informed decision-making and resource allocation by the public and private sectors, including preparation for and recovery from natural disasters and public health crises.”

Read the letter here.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 220 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

The Census Project (https://thecensusproject.org) is a broad-based coalition of national, state, and local organizations and companies that support an inclusive and accurate 2020 Census and American Community Survey (ACS) (the modern version of the census “long form”). Its 800+ member organizations and companies, representing the private, public, non-profit, and academic sectors, rely on objective data that the Census Bureau produces to inform evidence-based investment, policy and planning decisions.